Originally created as a recap blog for my friends too busy to watch t.v., I've branched out to movies, books, food, life in general. No politics tho', don't worry.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Lost episode recap – “Ji Yeon” (S4E7) airdate 03/13/08

For the record, trying to watch the show, type and read subtitles is one multitask too many for comfort. I wish I understood Korean – or at least could type without looking at the keyboard!

Das Boat: Frank-the-pilot heads below decks, carrying a brown paper bag. Regina (we’ve heard her on the phone but not seen her before) is on guard outside Desmond and Sayid’s cell. Frank notes that she’s reading her book upside down. This doesn’t seem to faze her much. Frank has brought Sayid and Desmond some food: cans of lima beans. The captives are not impressed with the cuisine and Frank explains that they’re having a problem in the kitchen. Sayid wants to know why they’re still being held captive and reiterates that he still wants to talk to the captain. Frank replies, “No, you don’t.”

On Island: Sun sits pensively by a fire on the beach, worried that Desmond and Sayid have not come back with the rescue after having been gone three days. Jin tries to distract her by talking about baby names; she compliments his improving English but says it’s bad luck to talk names before the baby is born. They banter about boy vs. girl – Jin thinks it’s going to be a girl. He wants to name the daughter Ji Yeon. Sun says the name is beautiful but, again, dear, let’s get off the Island before we pick names.

Flash: Sun puts a big tube of lube in her overnight bag - sassy! Suddenly, she is wracked by cramps as she tries to put on some lipstick. These are clearly more than menstrual cramps and, frightened, she calls the Korean equivalent of 911, asking them to send an ambulance. The operator asks what’s up and Sun gasps that she’s pregnant and something is very wrong. The camera pulls back as she clutches her huge belly and moans. Hmmm – flashforward?

After the commercial, a quick flash: Jin goes to a toy store and buys a huge stuffed panda, saying he has to get to the hospital. His cell rings and he tells the person on the other end that he’s on his way.

On Island: Sun wakes Jin up, saying that Kate and Jack have returned to the beach. Great! At the water trough, Kate sulkily fills Sun in on the goings-on of last episode, still out of sorts from being knocked unconscious by Charlotte. She says she thinks that the Boaties have no intention of rescuing the Losties. Disturbed by this, Sun hunts down Daniel and introduces herself, saying that she’s two months pregnant. Daniel: “Um, congratulations?” Hee. Sun goes on to ask point-blank if Daniel’s crew is going to rescue the Losties. Daniel hems and haws, saying that it isn’t really his call. “Whose call is it?” she wants to know, but he’s not saying. She rushes back to the beach encampment, interrupting some cute English chitchat between Jack and Jin (Jin’s been practicing! Poor Daniel Dae Kim has probably been begging the producers for some non-subtitled lines). In Korean so Jack can’t understand, she instructs her husband to collect enough food for two days and to meet her by their tent in twenty minutes: they’re going to join Locke.

On boat: Sayid finishes his can of lima beans, grumping that he hopes their captors resolve their kitchen issues soon. Just then, someone slides a note under the door. It reads, “Don’t trust the captain.” Well, duh, ya think?

On Island: Oops - Juliet catches Sun going through her things; Sun says she needs more prenatal vitamins. When Juliet presses the issue (e.g. didn’t I just give you a bottle?), Sun admits that they’re going to the Barracks. Juliet gets as urgent as she is able, saying that Locke is planning to stay on the Island and that Sun will die if she doesn’t leave with Jack. Sun doesn’t believe her.

Flash: Sun is wheeled into the hospital, moaning. The aide whispers to a nurse in an aside, “Oceanic Six,” so we finally know these are are flashFORWARDs. In her room, Sun is in quite a lot of pain when her doctor comes in … but he’s a new guy as her regular doctor is unavailable. SUSPICIOUS! Also, the aide’s fingernails are WAY too long for someone in the healthcare field. The new doc rubs Sun’s belly and says that the baby is in distress (he must have magic hands to know that from just a quick touch). He gives her something for the pain and she falls unconscious, calling for Jin.

Jin, meanwhile, loses the stuffed panda when someone steals his cab and then drops his cell phone, which gets run over and crushed. For some reason, he is insistent about having a panda and goes back to get another one from the toy store. The shopkeeper doesn’t want to give him the last one – “It’s on hold” – but a frantic and fairly menacing Jin throws a huge wad of cash at him, grabs the panda and runs out.

On Island: Kate tells Sun and Jin how to get to the Barracks. She also says she has to tell Jack about their defection but she’ll give them a good head start. Juliet comes up and tries to stop them, telling Jin, in English because Sun refuses to translate for her, that his wife will die if she doesn’t get off the Island in three weeks. Sun keeps walking so Juliet totally breaks all the girl-rules and tells Jin that Sun had an affair – she even thought the baby belonged to another man. His English isn’t good but he gets it. Sun whirls around and smacks Juliet in the face, which is sort of a letdown after last week’s excellent chick fight. Jin stares at her, dismay and pain filling his face, then turns and walks away. Sun calls after him.

Sun runs after Jin, trying to explain, begging him to look at her. Jin gathers his fishing poles and walks off; an oblivious Bernard asks if he can go with him and Jin, just trying to get away from his wife, says yes, come. Out in the outrigger, Bernard points out that he and Jin are the only two married guys on the Island. (Have you seen the current divorce rates, Bernard? It’s not that bizarre that it’s only two of you.) Bernard offers some commiseration and some advice, and then he admits to Jin that Rose has cancer. He says that Rose thinks the Island has cured her, but that even so, when the Losties split, they decided to go with Jack because it was the right thing to do - even though Rose might die when they get off the Island. It’s karma, says Bernard. Then Jin – who really has only understood two out of every five words his fishing buddy has been saying - catches a big fish. That’s karma too, exclaims Bernard, we must be the good guys! Suddenly I hear a bell tolling for the good guys.

On the boat: Desmond paces while Sayid listens to a banging in the pipes. He doesn’t think it’s mechanical – he thinks someone is doing the banging. Morse code? Someone trying to send a message? I think so, and I think Sayid thinks so but he’s not saying. Just then, Ecklie fetches Desmond and Sayid to meet with the captain. As they come out on deck, Sayid notices the ‘copter is gone. “On an errand,” says Ecklie. Sayid is skeptical: what kind of frickin’ errand? Then Desmond sees that girl Regina walking across the upper deck, heavy chains draped over her shoulders. She climbs over the railing and casually jumps off the boat, the chains plummeting her to the ocean floor. Desmond and Sayid FREAK OUT, running around ineffectually and shouting for help. The other crewmembers (Mr. Mouse spies Michael, hiding in his hooded sweatshirt!) just look over the railing at the trail of bubbles. A tall, handsome, scruffy man comes out of the bridge and shouts: “Stop! It’s over. She’s gone.” He comes down onto the deck and walks up to Desmond and Sayid. “I’m Captain Gault [?] and I suppose you two have a few questions.”

Does the captain have an Australian accent? Because that just makes him more attractive, frankly. Sayid wants to know why he just let Regina kill herself. The captain is pragmatic, saying that some of his crew seem to be suffering from a “heightened case of cabin fever … because of the close proximity to the Island.” They can’t move further away from the Island because a saboteur has wrecked the engines. When Sayid asks about the rescue, the captain says he has his orders. Orders from whom? Charles Widmore. Desmond’s eyes bulge. The captains says, “That’s right, you know him.”

Down in the captain’s cabin, he brings out the purported flight recorder from Oceanic 815. He explains that Widmore fished it out of the “wreckage” from the bottom of the ocean: the wreckage of the whole plane, filled with all the dead passengers. The captain goes on to say that obviously the wreckage was staged, at great effort and cost – not to mention the fact that 324 dead people had to be inserted into the faked plane wreck. This is not the least of the reasons why Widmore’s men want to find Ben. (Does Jacob’s List have anything to do with the 324 dead bodies put under the water? Hm.)

On Island: Juliet apologizes to Sun, but she had to try everything to stop them from joining with Locke; Sun snaps that it wasn’t Juliet’s place to stop them. Juliet tells Sun that she wants to get off the Island more than anything, and since Sun is her patient, she wants Sun to get off the Island too. She outlines the horrible sequence of symptoms that will lead to Sun’s sickening and dying, and thus the baby’s dying, if Sun doesn’t get off the Island. Juliet tears up as she speaks and Sun realizes that she’s not lying to her.

Flashforward: The doctor wants to do a C-section but Sun wants to wait for Jin. The nurse interrupts, peeking between Sun’s knees, and announcing that the baby is crowning. The doc gives up on the C-section idea and tells Sun to push. There is lots of screaming and groaning and pushing – a squeamish Mr. Mouse leaves the room, grumbling “How does this advance the story?” – then we hear a baby crying. Sun has a daughter. The doctor hands the baby over and I guess he wasn’t a bad guy after all. But, really, how long does it take Jin to get to the hospital?

On the boat: Ecklie leads Desmond and Sayid back to their new accommodations, on what he says is the “quiet side” of the ship. Sayid points out that the ship isn’t moving and, kind of crazily, Ecklie replies, “Well, if you say so.” He then asks what they thought of the captain. Sayid thinks he was surprisingly forthcoming. Ecklie: “The captain tells it like it is – just don’t piss him off.” Ecklie takes them to their cabin but it’s covered in blood (apparently left over from a suicide) and cockroaches. Ecklie orders a crewmember to come mop it up. The crewmember wheels up his mop-bucket … and it’s Michael in the worst-kept Lost secret ever. Sayid doesn’t bat an eye and introduces himself. “Kevin Johnson” shakes his hand.

On Island: Jin brings dinner to Sun as she is tidying their lean-to. She tries to explain why she had the affair but he won’t let her. He says he knew the man he used to be before the Island, and that what she did, she did to that man. But he is different now and he forgives her (– something the old Jin never would have done). Sun tells him that she no longer wants to join to Locke - they have to get off the Island. He agrees and says he’ll do whatever he has to do to help her. One question, though: he just wants to know if the baby is his. It is, she cries, it is. Hugs and crying. Boring.

Flash: Jin runs in with his frigging panda, finally. He greets the guard at the door, saying that he heard the Ambassador just became a grandfather and he has brought a gift from Mr. Paik for the new grandbaby. Wait a minute. He asks if it’s a boy or a girl and the guard says boy. Hold on. Jin grabs a blue ribbon from a flower arrangement to wrap around the panda’s neck as the Ambassador comes out. Scraping and bowing, Jin delivers the panda and relays Mr. Paik’s best wishes. As the door closes, we see that it is not Sun in the bed with the baby. Try to keep up, FM: Mr. Paik is Sun’s father. Jin leaves and a nurse remarks that he didn’t stay long. It’s not my baby, he tells her, but maybe some day – I’ve only been married two months. Whoa! The Jin-scenes have been flashBACKs! Tricky! And a pain in the ass to recap, I might add.

FlashFORWARD to a skinny Sun. The doorbell rings: it’s Hurley. She gives him a big hug, thanking him for coming. He asks if anyone else is coming and, at the negative answer, says “Good.” He meets the baby (“She’s awesome!”) and remarks that she looks just like Jin. “So,” he says, “I guess we should go see him.” And they go to a lovely cemetery where Jin is buried or at least memorialized. The headstone is, obviously, in Korean, but the dates I could make out seem to be “11/1974-9/2004” (to which Mr. Mouse states that Jin looks older than 30). Age aside, what this tells me is that Jin is not one of the Oceanic Six: the date of death would lead you to believe that, per Jack’s cover story, Jin "died in the crash" … and so is still on the Island, either alive or dead.

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Mus musculus

Is there a mouse in the house?

I read, ski, drink good beer, go to matinees by myself, honestly believe that the DVR is the world's greatest invention, burn dinner for Mr. Mouse on a semi-regular basis and watch more horror films than I think I do. I like puppies and kittens and baby bunnies and bacon and sunshine and the mountains of Utah and chocolate banana malted milkshakes and puppies and chick flicks (no, not chick flicks) and surprises and classic Mustangs and did I say puppies already? I like sarcasm and snark and tend to have a glass-half-empty view of life because when things turn out, I'm pleasantly surprised. I also like puppies.

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